Fox (known by a variety of different names, including Mesquakie, Meskwaki, Mesquakie-Sauk, Mesquakie-Sauk-Kickapoo, Sac and Fox, and others) is an Algonquian Indian language, spoken by around 1000 Fox, Sauk, and Kickapoo in various locations in the Midwestern United States. There are three distinct dialects: Fox (also called Mesquakie, Meskwaki, and Meshkwahkihaki), Sauk (also called Sac, and Sac and Fox), and Kickapoo (also called Kikapú; considered by some to be a separate but closely-related language). Few children now speak the language, making it highly endangered, and if Kickapoo is counted as a separate language rather than a dialect of Fox, then there are only between 200 and 300 speakers.

Phonology

The consonant phonemes of Fox are given in the table below. The vowels are short and long /i u e o a/.

There are also preaspirated stops and affricate: . The only cluster is apparently , or any consonant or cluster followed by a semivowel.

See also

• Sac and Fox Nation

External links

• Native Languages of the Americas: Mesquakie-Sauk
• Mesquakie Language Report on Ethnologue
• Kickapoo Language Report on Ethnologue

References

• Bloomfield, Leonard. 1925. "Notes on the Fox Language." International Journal of American Linguistics 3:219-32.

Algonquian languages | Languages of the United States | Indigenous languages of the North American Plains